A Michigan native was tabbed Ferris State University’s
next Athletics Director as Perk Weisenburger was
appointed to lead Bulldog Athletics in an announcement made Aug.
25, 2010, by FSU Vice President for Administration & Finance
Jerry Scoby.

Weisenburger most recently had served on the senior staff as the
Associate Athletics Director for External Operations at the
University of Nevada, Las Vegas since 2005. He’s a 1979
graduate of Central Michigan University and the former Director of
Athletics at NCAA Division I Illinois State University for five
years.

His appointment came following a nationwide search and screening
process that yielded more than 75 applicants and involved a
10-member search committee. He replaced former FSU Athletics
Director Tom Kirinovic, who retired after more than 27 years as a
member of the Bulldog Athletics Department. Weisenburger
began his duties at Ferris on Friday, Sept. 10, 2010.

“Perk brings an incredible amount of experience in multiple
athletic settings that will be extremely helpful as he prepares to
lead FSU Athletics,” Scoby said. “He was a
student-athlete and understands how important this experience is to
both the student-athletes and the university.

“Overall, I was impressed with the breadth and depth of our
pool of candidates for this position and he emerged at the top of
that list in the process,” he added.

As the athletics director, Weisenburger is responsible for the
operations of Ferris State’s athletics department, which
currently sponsors 15 intercollegiate varsity sports (eight for
women and seven for men). Fourteen of the sports participate at the
NCAA Division II level in the highly-competitive Great Lakes
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) while men's hockey
competes at the NCAA Division I level in the Western Collegiate
Hockey Association (WCHA).

“We’re very pleased that Perk Weisenburger has
accepted our offer to become the Athletics Director at Ferris State
University,” said FSU President David L.
Eisler. “He brings a strong background of experience
and is well prepared to help Ferris Athletics continue to grow,
help student-athletes get a great education, and to prepare our
teams for competition.”

In his tenure at Nevada, Las Vegas, Weisenburger oversaw the
coordination and operation of many external functions such as
athletic marketing and promotions, licensing and athletic
ticketing. He also served as the department's liaison to
multi-media rights partner International Sports Properties
(ISP).

Prior to arriving at UNLV, Weisenburger spent five years
(1999-2004) leading the athletics department at Illinois State and
previously worked in athletics administration at other NCAA
Division I institutions such as Wake Forest, Central Michigan,
Washington and Houston. He was the Associate Director of Athletics
for External Operations at CMU from 1989-95.

Weisenburger graduated from CMU with a bachelor's degree in
business administration. He also earned a master's degree in sports
administration from Ohio University (1982). He and his wife, Buffy,
who are both Michigan natives, are the parents of two sons, Jack
and Joe.

“It’s an exciting opportunity that presents itself at
Ferris State University and our family is thrilled to be returning
to Michigan,” Weisenburger said. “I’m
looking forward to becoming a part of Bulldog Athletics and helping
to continue the solid tradition of academic and athletic success
while cultivating an atmosphere of enthusiasm and pride that
reflects Ferris State’s past, present and future.”

Weisenburger’s career to date is filled with many impressive
highlights.

While at UNLV, Weisenburger secured new multi-year agreements with
an institutional licensing company, broadcast entities, website
providers and spearheaded the department’s graphic refreshing
and branding campaign. Licensing royalty revenue went up by
more than 87% in his tenure and he was the point person in
outsourcing multimedia/sponsorship rights to ISP that brought the
school significant revenue over the term. He also led a
process that revised, merged and implemented a new corporate
relations structure resulting in a 22% revenue increase in
2006-07. Additionally, he provided administrative oversight
for the installation of new technology, video boards and signage in
2008 while also serving as the university’s liaison with
fulfillment oversight of various cash and gift-in-kind partner
contracts.

“Perk Weisenburger is a fantastic hire for Ferris State
University and is easily one of the finest athletic administrators
I have ever worked with,” said UNLV Athletics Director
Jim Livengood. “He cares deeply about
students, faculty and staff, and will have a tremendous
commitment. I would consider this one of great hires of the
year in intercollegiate athletics and Ferris should be commended
for running an excellent search and ending up with a great
choice.”

Prior to his arrival in Las Vegas, Weisenburger spent a year
(2004-05) as a consultant to Division I institutions and
organizations for research, data collection, analysis and
consultation. His projects included items such as a
feasibility study of a priority men’s basketball seating plan
at Ball State University and assisting the Division I-AA Athletic
Director’s Association with enhancement initiatives.

While serving as the AD at Illinois State, Weisenburger secured
funding and student fee support for new construction and facility
enhancements addressing both competitive and welfare needs.
He also attained the first seven-figure gift to athletics for the
construction of the Kaufman Football Building and a naming gift of
$500,000 for the Owen Strength and Conditioning Center. The
RedBirds won 23 Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Championships in
his tenure as athletics director and finished in the top three of
the MVC All-Sports Standings all five years, including one
first-place performance and three runner-up efforts.

“With his skill set and experience in external relations,
fundraising and marketing, I believe Perk will be a perfect fit for
Ferris State University,” said GLIAC Commissioner
Dell Robinson. “He’s an
experienced administrator who’s seen athletics at different
levels and will be a tremendous addition bringing great value to
both the institution and the conference.”

Weisenburger oversaw the successful completion of Illinois
State’s NCAA Certification process in 2002 and secured the
2005 State Farm MVC Women’s Basketball Tournament through a
competitive bid process. Student-Athlete’s earned an
exhausted eligibility graduation rate of 85%, provided more than
1,200 hours of annual community service and participated in
interview and job skills seminars with senior professionals under
his watch. He also revitalized the Student-Athlete Academic
Excellence Banquet by acquiring State Farm Insurance as the event
underwriter, which allowed over 550 student-athletes,
faculty/staff, families and donors to gather on-campus annually to
support outstanding academic achievement.

Before his first athletics director position at Illinois State,
Weisenburger worked from 1995-99 as the Associate Director of
Athletics for Internal Operations at Wake Forest University where
he was directly responsible for daily and comprehensive oversight
of eight sports, sports medicine, strength and conditioning, game
operations and facility management. He was president of the
National Association of Athletic Development Directors (NAADD)
while at Wake Forest in 1995-96 and served on numerous Atlantic
Coast Conference (ACC) committees. Additionally, he assisted
in the construction planning and operation of new and renovated
facilities besides coordinating search processes for the hiring of
four head coaches and several other key department support
personnel.

Weisenburger was the Associate Director of Athletics for External
Operations at Central Michigan from 1989-95 and was directly
responsible for oversight of six sports as well as other support
positions. He supervised the Chippewa Club where annual
private contributions increased 66%, major donors increased 41% and
total membership went up nearly 22% over a four-year span. He
also coordinated the sales efforts that helped CMU lead the
Mid-American Conference (MAC) in average football attendance from
1991-94. In his time with the Chippewas, Weisenburger
negotiated and coordinated a three-year radio broadcast contract
and developed a 14-station statewide network generating a sizeable
annual gain for the university.

He began his career as a graduate assistant at Ohio University in
1980-81 where he coordinated ticket promotions and basketball game
management. From there, he was the manager of athletic
marketing and promotions at the University of Houston from 1982-84
before becoming the director of athletic marketing and promotions
at the University of Washington from 1984-89.

Weisenburger’s time at Washington was marked by assisting in
the writing and selling of radio bid specifications that awarded
the then single largest broadcast rights fee ever in college
athletics in 1985. He also helped to generate dollars
annually as an executive committee member for a grocery promotion
and worked on a season ticket sales campaign that filled the new
13,000-seat upper deck in Husky Stadium in 1987.

A Mount Pleasant (Mich.) native, Weisenburger attended Central
Michigan on a baseball scholarship and was a three-year
letterwinner for the Chippewas. He was the captain of
CMU’s 1980 MAC Championship team and claimed Academic All-MAC
laurels. He later served as a graduate assistant coach in the
baseball program at Ohio.

He’s been active in community service throughout his
administrative career, including serving as the co-chair of the
annual Bloomington (Ill.) OSF St. Joseph Hospital Foundation
fundraising gala in 2003 and as a youth baseball coach in the Paseo
Verde Little League in Henderson, Nev., for five years.
He’s also a current board of directors member for the Josh
Stevens Foundation, which helps remind children that there is a
whole world in need of more acts of kindness.

“We’re pleased to have Perk join us here at
Ferris,” said Scoby. “His expertise will be
invaluable to FSU in the years ahead.”